Yibin, a city in Sichuan Province, is positioning itself at a pivotal moment for industrial transformation by aggressively pursuing growth in future-focused sectors. The city's strategy emphasizes consolidating its existing industrial base while expanding into new technological frontiers to cultivate a secondary growth curve for its economy.

At a recent press conference in Chengdu for the 2026 World Power Battery Conference, Vice Mayor Liu Yong outlined Yibin's comprehensive plan to advance solid-state battery and new energy storage industries. The city is focusing on both incremental innovation and substantial capacity building to maintain its competitive edge in the evolving battery landscape.

Strategic multi-path development for solid-state batteries

Yibin is pursuing a multi-technology route strategy for solid-state batteries, leveraging seven high-level research platforms including the Ouyang Minggao Academician Workstation and the Intelligent Solid-State Battery Innovation Center. The city is concurrently advancing sulfide, polymer, and oxide technical pathways, concentrating efforts on core technologies such as solid-state electrolytes, lithium metal anodes, and high-safety cells to maintain technological leadership.

The city is also developing a dedicated innovation park spanning two square kilometers, the first of its kind in Sichuan Province. This facility integrates research and testing, pilot trials, cell manufacturing, and new material supporting functions. The initiative focuses on cultivating industries related to solid-state cells, solid electrolytes, lithium-rich manganese-based cathode materials, silicon-carbon anodes, lithium metal anodes, and solid-state binders, with phased construction of cell production capacity.

For commercial applications, Yibin is facilitating deeper collaboration between core solid-state battery enterprises like Saike Power and major vehicle manufacturers including Chery Automobile, Changan Automobile, and SERES. These partnerships involve joint research on key materials, cell development, battery system integration, and vehicle assembly validation, aiming to demonstrate high-energy-density all-solid-state batteries in vehicles and drive industry development through application feedback.

Diversified approach to new energy storage ecosystems

In the new energy storage sector, Yibin is adopting a strategy centered on lithium battery storage as the primary technology while integrating sodium-ion and vanadium redox flow solutions. The city is building an industrial structure that supports multiple technological tracks and pathways simultaneously.

The city is leveraging leading enterprises to strengthen its industrial chain, with high-standard planning for storage industrial parks. Projects involving CRRC and China Energy Engineering Corporation are expanding production capacity, while targeted efforts are attracting upstream and downstream supply chain companies, particularly storage enclosure manufacturers, to establish operations in Yibin for closer coordination and clustered growth.

Yibin is also actively recruiting industry leaders specializing in sodium-ion and vanadium redox flow technologies, capitalizing on their unique advantages. Projects including Tongxing Environmental Protection and Xingchen New Energy are accelerating development, with the goal of establishing a new energy storage industrial ecosystem where lithium battery storage forms the foundation, complemented by sodium-ion and vanadium redox flow storage technologies.